dpkimmel2001
Team Owner
This is certainly going to be a huge change this season and I'm sure there will be plenty of controversy. I haven't seen a lot about this and how it will work but here is a little insight from pittalks.com
Last week we announced that NASCAR was changing their view on penalizing lug nuts during a pit stop. Along with that, came the change of how pit crews were to be penalized for leaving the wall early. Over the years, this penalty has been a complete judgement call on the officials and there has been no way to prove whether a team/ official is correct. The rule has stated that crew members must remain on the wall until the car is one box away before jumping. Now…..that same rule is in play but NASCAR has a way of enforcing the rule with much more clarity and fairness.
NASCAR spent a number of races last year testing this idea behind closed doors and making sure all the kinks were worked out. This was not an easy undertaking and NASCAR has put in the time and money to make sure its fair and accurate. So here is what basically happens. NASCAR will have every pit road at every track scanned. The dimensions of the cars will be scanned as well. The technology will be locked into the timing and scoring that NASCAR already uses but this will be another addition to it. This technology will allow a computer to know exactly where a car is in relation to its pit box. When cars get one stall away, the technology will recognize the car and recognize the pit box that car should be pitting in. If a crew member has left early, the box will already show that it has activity in it before the driver got to his one away box and a penalty will be assessed. This same technology will be used to regulate and mandate drivers entering pit boxes to early and leaving.
Now, before everyone starts asking questions lets cover a couple of them in hopes that we can save you a breath or two. First off, NASCAR is all about safety, and they understand that during a race there might be times during a pit stop where a pit crew member leaves early for a good reason. There will be officials sitting in a trailer outside the track that look at all stops that come up as penalties. If an official decides that the crew was over the wall early to avoid a car pulling out or to clear something in their box, then they have the ability to wave off the penalty. For example: lets say a gas can got drug down pit road from another team and it landed in your box when you car was 10 stalls away. A pit crew member jumps off the wall to clear the gas can out of the stall and resets on the wall. The new system might pick up that there was activity in the pit box and signal a penalty to the trailer. Once the officials review what actually happened, they can make a judgement call to over rule what would have been a penalty because of circumstances.
Leaving early has been a major problem in the last few years with pit crew members and why not. Its not like anyone wants to get hit. So crew guys will push the limits of leaving early to make sure they get out in front of the cars and to the right sides. This new rule is going to put teams in a major hole if they get caught twice a race leaving early. Its going to take a lot of discipline by these guys to hold on until the right time. The problem comes when they want to make darn sure they don’t get a penalty and wait to late and get hit by the car. The drivers will have to pay much more attention to the crewmen now more than ever. Hitting a crewmen because they want in there stall quicker aint gonna help the stop go any faster.
from here
Last week we announced that NASCAR was changing their view on penalizing lug nuts during a pit stop. Along with that, came the change of how pit crews were to be penalized for leaving the wall early. Over the years, this penalty has been a complete judgement call on the officials and there has been no way to prove whether a team/ official is correct. The rule has stated that crew members must remain on the wall until the car is one box away before jumping. Now…..that same rule is in play but NASCAR has a way of enforcing the rule with much more clarity and fairness.
NASCAR spent a number of races last year testing this idea behind closed doors and making sure all the kinks were worked out. This was not an easy undertaking and NASCAR has put in the time and money to make sure its fair and accurate. So here is what basically happens. NASCAR will have every pit road at every track scanned. The dimensions of the cars will be scanned as well. The technology will be locked into the timing and scoring that NASCAR already uses but this will be another addition to it. This technology will allow a computer to know exactly where a car is in relation to its pit box. When cars get one stall away, the technology will recognize the car and recognize the pit box that car should be pitting in. If a crew member has left early, the box will already show that it has activity in it before the driver got to his one away box and a penalty will be assessed. This same technology will be used to regulate and mandate drivers entering pit boxes to early and leaving.
Now, before everyone starts asking questions lets cover a couple of them in hopes that we can save you a breath or two. First off, NASCAR is all about safety, and they understand that during a race there might be times during a pit stop where a pit crew member leaves early for a good reason. There will be officials sitting in a trailer outside the track that look at all stops that come up as penalties. If an official decides that the crew was over the wall early to avoid a car pulling out or to clear something in their box, then they have the ability to wave off the penalty. For example: lets say a gas can got drug down pit road from another team and it landed in your box when you car was 10 stalls away. A pit crew member jumps off the wall to clear the gas can out of the stall and resets on the wall. The new system might pick up that there was activity in the pit box and signal a penalty to the trailer. Once the officials review what actually happened, they can make a judgement call to over rule what would have been a penalty because of circumstances.
Leaving early has been a major problem in the last few years with pit crew members and why not. Its not like anyone wants to get hit. So crew guys will push the limits of leaving early to make sure they get out in front of the cars and to the right sides. This new rule is going to put teams in a major hole if they get caught twice a race leaving early. Its going to take a lot of discipline by these guys to hold on until the right time. The problem comes when they want to make darn sure they don’t get a penalty and wait to late and get hit by the car. The drivers will have to pay much more attention to the crewmen now more than ever. Hitting a crewmen because they want in there stall quicker aint gonna help the stop go any faster.
from here
